Palest yellow and large as a quail’s egg, the Florentine Diamond is among history’s most fabled gemstones.

Its 137 carats, intricately cut, passed through the hands of one European dynasty after another – the Medicis, the Habsburgs – before disappearing in the fog of two world wars. The mystery of its whereabouts inspired rumours, fiction, even a high-priced perfume.

The Florentine Diamond, embedded in a diamond brooch.

Now, the mystery has been solved. The descendants of its final known owner, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, the last Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, revealed on Thursday that the Florentine Diamond has been safely tucked in a vault all along – in Quebec.

The story of how the famed rock ended up there is one of imperial collapse, resistance to Hitler and Canadian hospita

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